‘Get ready for BBMP election’: Dy CM D K Shivakumar tells civic body officials

A case was filed in the Karnataka High Court challenging the reservation matrix which was dismissed. It was later challenged in the Supreme Court which had instructed the government to revise the reservation system, including the timeline for implementing reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), by March 31.

However, due to the announcement of the Assembly election, the government was unable to meet the court’s deadline. The next hearing is scheduled for July 4 but it appears that the government is not adequately prepared to provide the requested update. This is because there are currently no guidelines in place for the enumeration and identification of OBCs eligible for political reservation.

It is expected that the government will either request additional time to comply with the court’s order or seek permission to allocate OBC-reserved seats through a random selection process.

Shivakumar, who was vocal about the issues related to the civic body, also said, “We do not want the administration to be fully managed by the officials. We will constitutionally hold the election and the BBMP should get ready for it.”

Taking up allegations of lack of accountability of the BBMP, Shivakumar asked the officials to submit photos and video recordings along with the constituency-wise expense details of all civic works undertaken in the past three years under various projects.

“I want to know all the details. If you can’t get them, I know how to get the details,” he warned and said that the government is intending to run a corruption-free civic agency.

“There are a lot of projects which have been billed by issuing work orders, then there are projects which have been doubled billed, works for which two companies have given the same bills…all details should be provided within ten days. All these things must stop,” Shivakumar said.

An official said that the property tax of the BBMP may also see a hike as it has not been revised in the last seven years and the same was also conveyed to the minister as well. The BBMP, in the last financial year, has collected a tax over Rs 3,332 crore and in 2023-24, it is aiming to collect Rs 4,690 crore.